The Hayden You Haven't Met

She plays an indestructible cheerleader on the hit TV show Heroes...and offscreen, Hayden Panettiere is just as fierce. Listen in as she opens up about guys, messed-up actresses, and being a "good bad girl."

At first glance, Hayden Panettiere seems to have perfected the glamorous celebrity aura, as evidenced by the chic, head-to-toe black ensemble that she is wearing — complete with Ray-Bans perched on her head and sexy thigh-high boots on her teeny, size-51/2 feet. But it quickly becomes clear that Hayden is not at all concerned with perpetuating some Hollywood ideal.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

"What's with all the salads?" she asks, checking out the menu at Los Angeles's Four Seasons Hotel, where her Cosmo interview is taking place. She orders the mac and cheese, minus the ham (she's recently become a vegetarian), and when it arrives, she dives in.

Spend a little time with the 18-year-old actress and you'll soon discover that she also has an appetite for defying expectations. Thanks to her role as unbreakable high school cheerleader Claire Bennet on NBC's hitHeroes, Hayden is one of TV's brightest stars, but she'd rather kick butt than be pampered. "I do as many of my own stunts as they'll let me do," says the petite powerhouse. "Not a whole lot scares me."

That includes the potential perils of fame. "I think that people look at me as just another one of those girls who's going to screw up, like 'She's going to get into drugs, and she's going to get into the parties,'" says Hayden, who stars opposite Julia Roberts in the upcoming film Fireflies in the Garden. "I have the occasional glass of champagne when I'm celebrating something, but generally, I don't drink. I'm a pizza-and-a-movie girl."

Spoken like a true New York native! Hayden landed her first commercial at just 11 months old, back when she still lived on the East Coast. She appeared in such movies as Remember the Titans, with Denzel Washington, and The Affair of the Necklace, with Hilary Swank. She also played Calista Flockhart's daughter during the last season of Ally McBeal. Her key to remaining grounded while climbing the Hollywood ranks? "The biggest thing is just to surround yourself with good people who keep you driven and keep you going where you want to go," she says, "people who let you know that it's okay to be you."

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

These days, that social circle is said to include herHeroes costar Milo Ventimiglia, whom she's reportedly been dating since this past fall. (She and Laguna Beach star Stephen Colletti broke up last year after more than a year together.) However, if she were dating Milo—or anyone else for that matter—she's not likely to admit it. Her private life, she says with a shrug, "is no one else's business."

Still, Hayden will confess that when it comes to hanging out with guys, she knows how to flirt. "I'm a bad good girl," she says with a mischievous laugh. "Every girl likes feeling hot and sexy and beautiful and likes hearing it." What does she look for in a guy? " Somebody who's driven," she says. "And somebody who has a good sense of humor, because I can be very dry and sarcastic." A healthy dose of confidence is another key requirement in the guys she dates. "I need somebody who is very secure," she says. "In this business, I'm constantly standing next to gorgeous people. My job is to make out with [attractive] men. Like, hello, who wouldn't be completely threatened by that? But at the end of the day, you have to realize that it's just a job."

A job that comes with many other stressors too, including the constant pressure in Hollywood to be ultrathin. "I don't have a model's body," she says. "But I'm not one of those crazy girls who thinks that they're fat. I'm okay with what I have. I can rock this body, you know?"

Rather than spending her time obsessing about the dial on the scale, Hayden is focusing on her flourishing career. Besides her hit television show, she's in the middle of writing and recording her first album, and she also has some lofty screen goals in mind for the future. "I've always wanted to be a Meryl Streep or a Natalie Portman," she says. "I want to do all kinds of different movies, to be a chameleon. I don't want to limit myself."